The V8 Owners Forum -

Hi all,
Just put another RV8 into the Capri as the last one lunched its crank.
Cant seem to get the thing running properly & I've ran out of suggestions/ideas - mostly taken from this forum.

Does anyone know of anywhere who specialise in RV8's in Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire? - I'm in Chichester.
- I'm at a point where I'd rather give the car to someone who can set it up properly before I lose interest & sell it.
Cheers
Paul

Paul,

Carb or EFI? and some details of spec would help with getting advice.

Kevin.

Its an ex Range Rover engine with my old SD1 front cover/opus dizzy/Holley/Offenhauser fitted.

Checked TDC by pulling plug 1 & checking no.1 is at the top. Replace plug.
Set dizzy to point at No.1. Try starting. Turns (grinds) over very slowly (new starter fitted earlier & full battery charge), then starts after a few tries.
Once started it doesnt run smooth. Set timing up to 8BTDC as per book. It then runs but once revved to 3k+ & held it backfires. Adjust dizzy to sort this, all good.
Turn off to check the re-start, turns over very slowly & seems to almost turn back the other way. I then re-adjust the dizzy (losing any timing setting I had) to get it running again. Runs rough with a backfire & no power.

The Opus is the least reliable and oldest of the electonic Rover dizzys and it does sound like a dizzy problem, could be that there is a broken or detached advance spring/s allowing causing totally erratic timing or as it's around 30 years old. it's just clapped out.

I'd suggest checking the dizzy first.

A good idea would be to change to the later Lucas 35DLM8 dizzy, a new one can be got for £125.00 you may have to change the coil depending what you have and if the system has a ballast resistor this will need to be bypassed to give a full 12v, the matching coil is a Lucas DLB198

Hope thats a help.

Kevin.

Thanks Kevin,
Have replaced the guts of the Opus & it ran good with no setup or running probs on the other engine before it lunched the crank.
Have another dizzy with points etc which came with the engine - will try that one.
Question: The other dizzy I speak of has one wire out (rather than the 2 from the Opus).
Which terminal does this go to on the coil? If I do this, coil will have one wire from the dizzy to 'a terminal'. What else needs to be wired to what? Currently the coil is bolted to an Ali plate with wires from both sides connecting to the dizzy.

Paul,

Without knowing which model of dizzy the spare one is it's difficuly to advise

As far as I'm aware they are;

35D8 Opus
35DM8 with external Amplifier
35DLM8 with Amp attached to the dizzy body latest type.

I'm only really familiar with the 35DLM8 as that the one I have, but others will be able to advise.

Kevin.